Here are some older thoughts on the Snake Trax that I had posted elsewhere. I sent away every Ferret I had a couple years back, and I was thinking I would army build these, even before I got this one. (you'll read more about that ahead.) I thought I would throw this up here while I'm considering whether or not getting Ferrets BACK in my collection will be easy, or if there is a better vehicle. I would like to get something that is somewhere between and ATV, Buggy, or Jeep, for my collection. (not a Stinger.) Anyway, on with the original write-up:
SNAKE TRAX
Originally I wanted to army build these back when the first images started appearing on the internet. I finally did get one on sale for about $7 on clearance from Target not too long ago. I didn't want to end up with several Scrap-irons, so I wasn't really in a hurry to get these at all.
A sort-of goal of mine is to have my Cobra "army" be a force that primarily uses smaller, but effective, vehicles. The HISS is a good size, the STUN is perhaps a bit too big for an example. I'm saving any "big" vehicles to be one-of-a-kind (or last of its kind!) that are unique in use to certain Cobra individuals. (Wild Weasel is the man when it comes to my lone Hurricane [this has changed since the original post], for example.)
The Ferret is a vehicle that I felt was perfect for my Cobra forces. An ATV is easily transportable and really meant for going off-road, as well as having utilitarian uses. In this case, hauling weapons.
My Motor Vipers have been testing this new Ferret, the Snake TRAX out.
It's been pretty decent so far. Really exactly what I would expect from a Ferret.
I like the color, it's very neutral, and while I originally wanted an all-blue Ferret pool, this red-brown works. [I was hoping the new Cobra Fury would be this color, but now we know...]
I'm still half-n-half on the new front grill, though. It has a nice blue it, but other than looking nice, it doesn't really add to the action of the original Ferret base at all. It sits too low on the front for an ATV, grounding at slight slopes.
Which isn't horrible, the driver just has to remember this and steer just right to avoid digging into the ground.
The big anti-armor missile is a good idea, but I don't think the Snake TRAX came out as successful as it really could have been in this department. As you know, the original "hose" that connected to the original Ferrets cannon is now sticking straight up. Is it an antenna? Could be, but how much harder would a new straight tube of plastic be in place of this? Or even a little technical looking thing to put on top of the "hose" as it stands? I don't know.
The Motor Vipers were left a little put of by the operation of this launcher, too. They didn't want to fire this thing when it was moving, and the weight tended to lean the machine a little too much. And as much as these guys like driving fast and encountering danger, they just weren't having much fun with this over balanced ballast. Plus, near as they figured they only had one shot. However, they did like the push-button trigger, very user friendly.
Even Scrap-iron was saying that it would have been awesome had they included some kind of tripod so it could dismounted to become a deadly ground weapon by itself. As is, they can't figure out why there is such a big amount of material to fire one missile. But they do like the flip-up cover.
Overall, I'm not as impressed with the Snake TRAX. It seems rushed out the gates in terms of the new add-on's. This isn't to say I wouldn't still mind army building the machines, I really would. (but at a very cheap cost to me only...)
Overall 3 out of 5 from me.
What do you guys think? Anyone have any Ferret or Snake TRAX armies built up?